Puzzle

ABSTRACT

A multi-piece, two-dimensional puzzle whose solution involves the matching of multiple-symbol, piece-matching indicia located along each edge of a two-faced puzzle piece with corresponding multiple-symbol, piece-matching indicia located along edges of adjacent abutting pieces. The multiple-symbol, piece-matching indicia is not shared by adjoining puzzle piece edges. Further, each piece is provided with unique piece-identifying indicia on both of its faces. Together, the matching of multiple-symbol, piece-matching indicia of adjacent tile edges, coupled with signaling of solutions as suggested by observation of the unique piece-identifying indicia leads a player to solution of the puzzle.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/609,270, filed Mar. 10, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporatedin its entirety by reference thereto.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to amusement devices and inparticular to puzzles. Even more particularly, the invention relates toa multi-piece puzzle requiring matching of indicia located along edgesof such pieces for its solution.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Multi-piece, two-dimensional puzzles are known on the art. The solutionto some involve the mere abutment of the edges of adjacent pieces,whereas others such as jigsaw puzzles require mating engagement ofadjacent pieces. The objective of many of these sorts of puzzles is toproduce a predetermined design, pattern or image from the several piecesthat make up the puzzle. In others, suitable placement of the pieces mayresult in multiple solutions representing repeated or random designs.The objective of such “image” puzzles, however challenging they may be,is to produce a coherent image.

Still other multi-piece, two-dimensional puzzles have as their objectivea solution involving the arrangement of correlating indicia (colors,numbers, letters, etc.) located along the edges of adjacent pieces,which solution does not produce a recognizable image or pattern. Suchcorrelation may be for the purpose of matching identical indicia witheach other or to achieve a logical symbolic relationship (alphanumericor otherwise) in order to produce a desired solution.

However, no presently known multi-piece, two-dimensional puzzles involvethe use of (1) pieces having multiple-symbol, piece-matching indiciaalong each of their edges, (2) which multiple-symbol, piece-matchingindicia is not shared by adjoining puzzle piece edges, (3) and uniquepiece-identifying indicia on both faces of the pieces, all of whichcharacteristics are necessary for solution of the puzzle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a multi-piece, two-dimensional puzzlewhose solution involves the matching of multiple-symbol, piece-matchingindicia located along each edge of a two-faced puzzle piece (alsoreferred to herein as a “tile”) with corresponding multiple-symbol,piece-matching indicia located along edges of abutting pieces. Themultiple-symbol, piece-matching indicia is not shared by adjacent oradjoining puzzle piece edges. Further, each piece or tile is providedwith unique piece-identifying indicia on both of its faces. Together,the matching of multiple-symbol, piece-matching indicia of adjacent tileedges, coupled with signaling of solutions suggested by observation ofthe unique piece-identifying indicia leads a player to solution of thepuzzle.

The puzzle pieces or tiles are non-interlocking, rotatable in 360° andreversible/invertible. The piece-matching indicia and piece-identifyingindicia may include colors, numbers, letters, shapes, icons, symbols orany combination thereof. The number of different possiblemultiple-symbol, piece-matching indicia located on a particular face ofa piece is preferably up to twice the number of the edges of such piece.That is, a three-edged (triangular) piece could possess up to sixdifferent piece-matching indicia symbols, whereas a four-edged (square)piece may bear up to eight different piece-matching indicia symbols, andso on. In any event, the puzzle does not present a coherent image as itssolution.

Other details, objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent as the following description of the presently preferredembodiments and presently preferred methods of practicing the inventionproceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will become more readily apparent from the followingdescription of preferred embodiments thereof shown, by way of exampleonly, in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is representative view of a 3×3 arrangement of square puzzlepieces or tiles according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of a square puzzle piece or tile according to theinvention showing an exemplary arrangement of multiple-symbol,piece-matching indicia located on a face thereof;

FIG. 3 is a view of a square puzzle piece or tile according to theinvention showing an exemplary arrangement of multiple-symbol,piece-matching indicia and unique piece-identifying indicia displayed ona face thereof;

FIG. 4 is a view of multiple-symbol, piece-matching indicia of abuttingpuzzle pieces or tiles in matching disposition; and

FIG. 5 is representative view of a completed 3×3 square puzzle accordingto the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawings wherein like or similar references indicatelike or similar elements throughout the several views, there is shown inFIG. 1 a 3×3 square arrangement of square puzzle pieces or tiles 10according to the invention. It will be understood that the tiles mayassume different shapes (e.g., triangular) and that the overall shape ofthe completed puzzle may be other than square (e.g., triangular,rectangular, hexagonal or otherwise) depending on the polygonal shape ofindividual tile pieces used in the puzzle. As seen in FIG. 1, the squaretiles are identified by piece-identifying indicia 12 (in the illustratedexample, characters ABC in a top row, characters DEF in a center row andcharacters GHI in a bottom row). Although not limitative, suchcharacters are indicative of the types of unique piece-identifyingindicia displayed on a face of the tiles. In this connection, and forreasons described in greater detail below, the opposite faces of thepieces or tiles 10 should bear different unique piece-identifyingindicia.

As seen in FIG. 2, in an exemplary “square” embodiment, each tile 10 hasfour edges and two faces (only one of which is shown). Near each tileedge are piece-matching indicia or symbols 14. According to a preferredembodiment such indicia are arranged in pairs 16 (also known as a“symbol-pair”). Thus, there are four symbol-pairs, totaling eightsymbols, on each tile face. This arrangement of piece-matching indiciaapplies to each side or face of the tile, thereby making a total ofeight symbol-pairs, and sixteen symbols, on each tile. Significantly,the piece-matching indicia or symbol-pairs 16 are not located in thecorners of the tile face, but are positioned as shown in FIG. 2. Thatis, by not being located at the corners of the tiles, the symbol-pairsare not shared by adjoining tile edges. Indeed, the first and secondsymbols 14 of a symbol-pair 16 are preferably respectively located atdistances of about one-third and two-thirds of the length of an edge asmeasured from a tile corner. Disposed as such, a symbol-pair 16 of onetile edge is independent of a symbol-pair of an adjacent or adjoiningtile edge, the significance of which is discussed hereinafter. Assumingthat there may be up to eight different symbols on a tile face, theremay be up to 28 possible symbol-pair combinations that may be presentedon a tile face, i.e., eight different symbols taken two at a time. Ifpair orientation is considered, e.g., orange over green versus greenover orange, then the number of symbol-pairs increase to 56. Incontrast, when symbol-pairs are disposed at the corners of a squarepiece or tile 10, i.e., symbol-pairs are “shared” by adjoining edges.

The piece-matching symbols 14 may be spots of color, numbers, letters,or other characters or icons. While one variation of the square puzzletile 10 has eight distinct piece-matching symbols, e.g., 8 differentcolors, numbers or any other different characters or symbols, othervariations may have a greater or lesser number of distinct symbols. Forinstance, a single piece or tile 10 may include a green symbol (or othercolor or character) as part of more than one symbol-pair. Likewise, morethan one symbol-pair on a tile face may be the same, e.g., two or moreedges of a tile might contain green dot-orange dot symbol-pairs 16.However, the symbols 12 are desirably distributed across the tiles insuch a way that no face has more than two of the same symbol-pairs 16.Still further, in order to make the puzzle more challenging, it ispreferred that the distribution of symbol-pairs 16 over the severaltiles 10 not be evenly distributed. In other words, it is preferred thatthere be a bias toward some symbol-pairs.

FIG. 3 illustrates one face of a complete square tile 10 marked inaccordance with the present invention. As noted in connection with thedescription of FIG. 1, each piece or tile preferably has unique piece-identifying indicia 12 (in this example, the letter “Q”) locatedgenerally in the center of the tile. A different uniquepiece-identifying indicia 12 would likewise be provided on the oppositeface of tile 10. Thus, for a puzzle consisting of nine square tiles, atotal of 18 faces would be uniquely identified. The existence of theunique piece-identifying indicia on the opposite surfaces of the tilesenables the solver to keep track of which tiles have been used duringprevious unsuccessful attempts at solutions. For example, if a tilebearing the letter “Q” as its unique piece-identifying indicia (i.e.,with “Q” facing upwardly) was used as the center tile of an attempted3×3 tile arrangement that failed, then that side of the tile can beavoided as the center tile in later solution attempts.

To solve the puzzle, symbol-pairs from two adjacent/abutting tiles mustmatch, as shown in FIG. 4. For example, a green-pink symbol-pair on onetile must match a corresponding mirror image green-pink symbol-pair ofan adjacent tile. The goal is to align edges of adjacent tiles in such away that all adjacent symbol-pairs are matched. Using FIG. 1 as areference, the central tile “E” will have its four symbol-pairs matchsymbol-pairs of on its four adjoining tiles (“B”, “D”, “F” and “H”).Tiles B, D, F and H, in turn, must have three symbol-pairs which matchthe symbol-pairs of its three adjacent tiles. For instance, the tile “B”must have symbol-pairs which match corresponding symbol-pairs of tiles“A”, “C” and “E” and each of the four corner tiles must have two of itssymbol-pairs match symbol- pairs of two of its adjacent tiles (e.g.,tile “A” must have symbol-pairs that match corresponding symbol-pairs ontiles “B” and “D”). FIG. 5 shows a completed puzzle wherein allsymbol-pairs are properly matched.

Significantly, and in contrast with known puzzles wherein the corners oftiles bear symbols that must be matched in order to solve the puzzle(“corner” puzzles), the present invention represents a significantdeparture whose solution is considerably more complex. In solving a“corner” puzzle, and using FIG. 1 as an example, one first chooses atile for center tile E. Assuming that tile E has a white symbol in itsnorthwest corner and a black symbol in its northeast corner, then tile Bmust have white in its southwest corner and black in its southeastcorner. Accordingly, tile C must have a black symbol in its southwestcorner and tile F must have a black symbol in its northwest corner. Thisproduces a constraint that the present puzzle does not have. That is, inthe instant puzzle, once tile B is placed, with its south symbol-pairmatching the north symbol-pair of tile E, the east symbol-pair of tile Bis “free-standing”, i.e., it is independent of anything on tile E. Then,in choosing tile C, the only criterion is that of matching its westsymbol-pair with the east symbol-pair of tile B. It will be appreciatedthat the south symbol-pair of tile C is then likewise “free standing”.That is, it is not dependent on any other already-selected tile. Inother words, for the same four tiles, tile C is independent of tile Eand tile B is independent of tile F, and so on. This layer ofindependence between alternating tiles of adjacent rows renders thesolution to the subject puzzle substantially more difficult than atypical corner puzzle.

There must be assurance that there is at least one solution to thepuzzle, although there may be more than one solution. The puzzle has alarge number of possible steps toward a solution. In a 3×3 square tilepuzzle there are eighteen choices for the first step (nine tiles timestwo faces per tile). After that choice, there are sixteen remainingfaces, although there will be a limited number of possibilities for thissecond choice since there must be matching edges. Then, after thatchoice, there are fourteen remaining faces to choose from, and so on.

It is easy to construct a puzzle with a solution. For a 3×3 squarepuzzle, simply place nine blank tiles in a 3×3 square and apply matchingsymbol-pairs on adjoining edges of all tiles. Then apply randomsymbol-pairs on the reverse side of each tile. It is most challenging toconstruct a puzzle with eighteen faces and with exactly one solution,although more than one solution may be possible depending on how thesymbol-pairs are applied to the puzzle pieces.

Although described herein as being a 3×3 square puzzle using squarepieces or tiles, it will be understood that the puzzle may assumedifferent configurations. For example, four-square, five-square or evenlarger square puzzles may be created although the complexity of solutionincreases accordingly. Likewise, the puzzle need not assume a squarearrangement. It may for example, be rectangular such as might beachieved by a 2×4, 2×5, 3×4, 3×5, etc., array of tiles. Similarly,triangular or hexagonal puzzles are achievable using triangular tiles.Other shapes will be readily appreciated based on the chosen polygonalshape of the tiles.

Some of the characteristics and benefits of the tile puzzle according tothe invention include:

It is very easy to understand how to go about attempting to solve thepuzzle. That is, simply match symbol-pairs.

Either face of a tile can be part of the solution. In contrast, existingpuzzles call for piece matching using only one face.

Square tiles have eight distinct symbols; e.g., potentially eightdifferent colors or other symbols. Since the symbols are paired, thisprovides up to 28 symbol-pairs with different colors. If pairorientation is considered (“white over black” and “black over white” areconsidered different pairs), then the number of possible symbol-pairs isdoubled to 56. Many other matching edge puzzles have a much smallernumber of distinct symbols to match.

The symbols of a symbol-pair on one edge are not shared with anothersymbol-pair on that face. Some puzzles have two symbols on an edge, buteach symbol is also part of a symbol-pair of an adjoining edge. Suchpuzzles are far easier to solve than that of the present invention.

Because the tiles according to the invention contain generallycentrally-located unique piece-identifying indicia on both tile faces,attempts at solutions are “trackable”. That is to say, one can fall backto a previous step if a proposed solution fails. For example, assuming atile identified as “1” is located in the center of the puzzlearrangement, a tile identified as “2” could be in the east position as amatch, while tile “3” could be a match in the north position. If ithappens that of the remaining twelve tile faces there is no tile thatcan fit in the northeast position, then a different face of a differenttile can be tried in the north position and assembly may continue.However, it is important to keep a record of what tiles have been put invarious positions, as well as in what order, so that future attemptswill avoid duplication. This feature represents a significant departurefrom other “matching-type” puzzles that have no means to “fall back” toa previous position. In those puzzles, the only alternative is to startover from the beginning.

It is easy to make the puzzle, as described above. Some puzzles thatcall for matching are difficult to construct, e.g., those that requirecoherent images for their solution.

The tiles in the instant puzzle look the same when rotated since thereis no identifying up, down, left or right for a tile. In contrast, somepuzzles with numbers along their edges will have ‘upside down’ numbersunder 180° rotation.

Although the invention has been described in detail for the purpose ofillustration, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for thatpurpose and that variations can be made therein by those skilled in theart without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asclaimed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A two-dimensional puzzle comprising: a pluralityof polygonal pieces having a plurality of edges, a plurality of cornersand opposite faces; and indicia on each of said pieces, wherein saidindicia comprises: (a) unique piece-identifying indicia provided on eachof said opposite faces, and (b) multiple-symbol, piece-matching indiciaprovided along said edges.
 2. The puzzle of claim 1 wherein saidmultiple-symbol, piece-matching indicia is provided along each of saidedges.
 3. The puzzle of claim 1 wherein said multiple-symbol,piece-matching indicia is not shared by adjoining ones of said edges. 4.The puzzle of claim 1 wherein said multiple-symbol, piece-matchingindicia is not located in said corners.
 5. The puzzle of claim 1 whereinsaid multiple-symbol, piece-matching indicia comprise pairs of symbols.6. The puzzle of claim 5 wherein said pairs of symbols include first andsecond symbols respectively disposed at about one-third and two-thirdsof the length of an edge.
 7. The puzzle of claim 1 wherein said uniquepiece-identifying indicia is located generally centrally on saidopposite faces.
 8. The puzzle of claim 1 wherein said multiple-symbol,piece-matching indicia is selected from colors, numbers, letters andicons.
 9. The puzzle of claim 1 wherein the solution to the puzzle isnot a coherent image.
 10. The puzzle of claim 5 wherein the same symbolmay appear in more than one of said pairs of symbols.
 11. The puzzle ofclaim 5 wherein more than one of said pairs of symbols on a tile face isthe same.